Sooner Than You Think
by Lizwontcry
Summary: Riley's time is coming to an end before it even really started. Before she leaves, Nick has something to tell her. Spoilers for season 10.


**A/N - This was just something that popped into my head today, 'cause even though we didn't get to know Riley very well, I'm disappointed she and Nick never got to discover their love for each other. Well, maybe someday.**

Thanks for reading, and I do love me some comments.

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It was yet another failed experiment in Riley Adams' life, and now she was packing up the boxes to prove it. It wasn't supposed to end like this. She was supposed to have a long, prosperous career in Vegas; full of dead bodies and fake breasts and whatever else the seedy strip and surrounding areas had to offer.

When she got the call to come to Vegas, Riley knew she'd be replacing a beloved team member and things would be a little...uncomfortable around the others for a while. Because she was prepared for such a challenge, she agreed immediately. But then Grissom left and Ray came in, the whole dynamic of the office was different and she never could find her place within the team. And now it was over. Not even a year had gone by, and Riley was done.

A knock on the door snapped Riley out of her pity fog. Nick said, "Can I come in for a minute"?

"It's your office, too, Nick," she said, trying to keep any emotion out of her voice. Although, if she was going to show emotion in front of anyone, Nick Stokes would be the one that would make it happen.

"I know, but I was trying to give you some privacy. Or whatever."

"I appreciate that," she said, putting yet another forensics textbook in yet another box.

Nick watched her for a moment before he said anything else. It made her nervous, mostly because there were so many things she wanted to tell him and it would not be good just to blurt them all out. She bit her lip. It helped.

Riley was an intelligent, capable woman who was convinced that men only slowed her down. In fact, she was so sure the single life was for her (men only interfered with the job) that she hadn't dated since her Freshman year in college. But Riley was only human, and the power of Nick Stokes (and his amazing ass) made her weak in the knees sometimes. He was the only man she'd met in the past 10 years who actually gave her butterflies. And sometimes, in the right light, she thought he felt the same way. But she was known to sometimes confuse basic friendship with genuine romantic interest on the part of men, which was always getting her in trouble.

"I'm sorry to see you go," Nick was saying. "Are you sure you made the right decision? The day shift, they are a little strange but they don't bite. Plus, the hours are better and mostly they don't see as much creepy death stuff as we do, since the criminals in Las Vegas like to wait until the wee hours of the morning to do the really weird shit we end up dealing with."

Riley smiled in spite of herself. There was no way around it, she was going to miss Nick Stokes.

"Well, thank you, Nick, but the normal stuff isn't for me. And I've been doing grave shift since I graduated from college, and even then I was used to staying up all night, cramming for tests and stuff. The hours suit me."

It had been nice of Ecklie to offer Riley a position on the day shift when Sara Sidle came back to the lab, but Riley politely declined. It was time to start somewhere new--again. This time it would be somewhere a little less glitzy, somewhere she could find a place for herself. Unfortunately, wherever that place was, it wouldn't include Nick.

"I met Sara today, by the way. I guess she felt sorry for me, so she took me to lunch. She's so interesting; she's lived such a full life."

"Oh, yeah, Sara's a survivor. She looks so happy these days. I guess life with Grissom is better than we all could know."

Riley wanted to tell Nick about being inspired by Sara's courage. She wanted to tell Nick about how Sara took so many chances, so many risks, to finally be with the man she loved. Of course Sara didn't tell her the whole story; the Ballad of Grissom and Sara, but Riley knew bits and pieces from what she'd learned over the time she'd been with the lab. Riley wanted a love story, too. All she wanted was her happy ending.

"Well, anyway...I'm leaving in a few minutes. I have to pack up at home, and then I'm out."

"Do you need any help packing?" He asked genuinely.

"Oh, no, I don't have much stuff. It'll all fit in the back of my car. Isn't that sad?" She chuckled pathetically.

Nick came over and sat down on the desk in front of her. He looked at her with concern, and she could read his face like a map. There was a treasure somewhere inside of him, and it saddened her that she wasn't going to be the one to discover it.

"Where are you going? Do you even know?"

"I'm going back to St. Louis first. After that, who knows? I may try Dallas or Houston. I've always liked hot weather."

"I have family in Dallas," Nick said. Of course she knew that, somewhere in the back of her mind. Hopefully he didn't think she was stalking him or something. "So if you do decide to go there...maybe I can see you again."

Well, that took her by surprise.

"Is that something...something that you would want to do?" She asked with hope in her voice. "Oh, seriously, I sound like I'm in high school. Just ignore me." Mortified, Riley somehow looked away from Nick's penetrating glance, and surveyed the room she shared with him and Greg, seeing if she was leaving anything behind. This was interrupted by a warm, strong, soft hand grabbing her own.

"Yes. Yes, that is something I would want to do," he said, looking her straight in the eye, catching her off guard.

"I want that, too," she said softly. Riley didn't even care that she was showing all her cards. She had been given one last chance with Nick, and damn it if she wasn't going to take it.

Before they could even think about consequences or the door being open or about the huge crush they both knew Greg had on her, Nick kissed her softly. It was a nice, innocent kiss that promised something more down the road. Not soon, but someday. Just enough to make Riley think her story with Nick wasn't over; it was just beginning.

"Wow," Riley said when they managed to catch their breath.

"Yeah," Nick said, smiling his famous Nick Stokes smile.

He helped her pack the rest of her stuff, which wasn't much. He stood by her while she said good-bye to the team, and squeezed her hand every time she had to say good-bye to someone else. And when Riley got in her car to leave the lab behind, he kissed her again. If she had been just a tad bit weaker, Riley would have slammed the door of her car and announced she was staying for good, and then she'd drag Nick to her house and nothing had to change. But she thought of Sara again, a woman who was so bold to move to Costa Rica not knowing if the man of her dreams would follow her or not, and Riley knew it was time to go.

"See you later," she said, grinning at Nick.

"Sooner than you think," Nick said, and she drove away, leaving her future behind.


End file.
